Leonard Francis Riley (1911-1993)

Born on 02 October 1911, it was always thought that Len, as he was known, was the eldest of three children born to Edwin William Riley and Emily James. In 2022, it was discovered that Len was not the firstborn as originally thought. An elder brother, Edwin James Courtney, was born on 25 August 1910 and died on the same day a year later, just 38 days before Len was born.

The following is taken from the biography of Len’s brother, John (also known as Jack).

I had an older brother, Leonard Francis, born at Stoke Newington, north London, on 2nd October 1911. He also was apprenticed at the age of 14 and spent the whole of his working life as an instrument maker and engineering inspector. At the outbreak of war in 1939 he was working for the Chief Inspector of Armaments (CIA) at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, and in 1940 was posted to Leicester to oversee the production of anti-aircraft predictors at a stocking making factory which had turned over to war work.

This clip shows an anti-aircraft predictor of the type that Len may have overseen the production of. It is believed that Len’s apprenticeship was in optical instrument making, so it may be this element of the anti-aircraft predictor that he was involved with.

John continues:

In 1935 whilst on a cycling tour, Leonard met Eileen Howell, daughter of Harold and Winifred Howell of Combe Martin, Devonshire, and after the briefest of courtships they were married on 2nd November 1935. … After a happy marriage lasting 58 years, Leonard died aged 81 on 12th August 1993 and Eileen died on 8th December 1995.

During an air raid on Leicester their house was destroyed and Eileen and their daughters moved temporarily to accommodation at a farm, Leonard remaining in Leicester in lodgings. Later the family was reunited in a cottage at Milton, near Repton, in Derbyshire … . A few years after living in Milton, a post box was installed in the front wall of the house, a counter and screen built into the front room, and Eileen became the village postmistress. Eventually, they bought a bungalow at Rolleston-on-Dove, Staffordshire, where they enjoyed a happy retirement.